Funny story, that. It all starts with the Suez Canal.

Shipping things between the far east and Europe the long way around Africa was certainly doable, but very very time-consuming and expensive.

Once built, the canal was half owned by the French and half owned by Egypt. However, Egypt's finances were your typical third world despotic mess, so in 1875 the ruler of Egypt was forced to put his one money-making asset up for sale: Egypt's half stake in the Suez Canal. Since it had become a vital link between England and its Indian colonies, England snapped it up.

Obviously this did nothing to stop the economic rot, and Egypt soon found itself so in hock to British and French banks, that the whole country was essentially put into their receivership in October of 1876. Of course the locals weren't very happy with this, so the inevitable revolt against the foreign creditors occurred in 1881. This threatened both the British banker's investments, and the now-vital canal link to India. So the British Imperial impulse immediately kicked into gear, resulting in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, the seizure of both the canal and the country by British troops, and finally the country's absorption into the British Empire. The French, ending up with nothing after all their hard work, were less than pleased.

Funny story, that. It all starts with the Suez Canal.

Shipping things between the far east and Europe the long way around Africa was certainly doable, but very very time-consuming and expensive.

Once built, the canal was half owned by the French and half owned by Egypt. However, Egypt's finances were your typical third world despotic mess, so in 1875 the ruler of Egypt was forced to put his one money-making asset up for sale: Egypt's half stake in the Suez Canal. Since it had become a vital link between England and its Indian colonies, England snapped it up.

Obviously this did nothing to stop the economic rot, and Egypt soon found itself so in hock to British and French banks, that the whole country was essentially put into their receivership in October of 1876. Of course the locals weren't very happy with this, so the inevitable revolt against the foreign creditors occurred in 1881. This threatened both the British banker's investments, and the now-vital canal link to India. So the British Imperial impulse immediately kicked into gear, resulting in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, the seizure of both the canal and the country by British troops, and finally the country's absorption into the British Empire.

Funny story, that. It all starts with the Suez Canal.

Shipping things between the far east and Europe the long way around Africa was certainly doable, but very very time-consuming and expensive.

Napoleon took his troops through a little little excursion through Egypt at the turn of the 19th century, which got a lot of Frenchmen associating the country with romance and adventure. At the time, France had probably the best Civil Engineering schooling system in the world, so a lot of really talented French engineers started dreaming of building a canal through Egypt to connect the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean (via the Red Sea). This of course would be a great contribution to mankind (particularly the portion of it living in Europe). It might also help bring Egypt into the modern community of nations (IOW: draw it closer to France).

Once built, the canal was half owned by the French and half owned by Egypt. However, Egypt's finances were your typical third world despotic mess, so in 1875 the ruler of Egypt was forced to put his one money-making asset up for sale: Egypt's half stake in the Suez Canal. Since it had become a vital link between England and its Indian colonies, England snapped it up.

Obviously this did nothing to stop the economic rot, and Egypt soon found itself so in hock to British and French banks, that the whole country was essentially put into their receivership in October of 1876. Of course the locals weren't very happy with this, so the inevitable revolt against the foreign creditors occurred in 1881. This threatened both the British banker's investments, and the now-vital canal link to India. So the British Imperial impulse immediately kicked into gear, resulting in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, the seizure of both the canal and the country by British troops, and finally the country's absorption into the British Empire. The French, ending up with nothing after all their hard work, were less than pleased.

Funny story, that. It all starts with the Suez Canal.

Shipping things between the far east and Europe the long way around Africa was certainly doable, but very very time-consuming and expensive.

Once built, the canal was half owned by the French and half owned by Egypt. However, Egypt's finances were your typical third world despotic mess, so in 1875 the ruler of Egypt was forced to put his one money-making asset up for sale: Egypt's half stake in the Suez Canal. Since it had become a vital link between England and its Indian colonies, England snapped it up.

Obviously this did nothing to stop the economic rot, and Egypt soon found itself so in hock to British and French banks, that the whole country was essentially put into their receivership in October of 1876. Of course the locals weren't very happy with this, so the inevitable revolt against the foreign creditors occurred in 1881. This threatened both the British banker's investments, and the now-vital canal link to India. So the British Imperial impulse immediately kicked into gear, resulting in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, the seizure of both the canal and the country by British troops, and finally the country's absorption into the British Empire. The French, ending up with nothing after all their hard work, were less than pleased.